Berlin airport strikes lead to 660 cancelled flights

Strikes at Berlin's two airports caused 660 flights to be cancelled on Monday as part of an ongoing pay dispute with ground staff. "At Berlin Schoenefeld, 195 flights were cancelled and at Berlin Tegel 465 flights," Berlin Airport spokesman Daniel Tolksdorf said on Monday, adding that this amounted to almost all flights being cancelled. [arve url="http://www.reuters.com/assets/iframe/yovideo?videoId=371291072"/] Workers at Berlin's Tegel and Schoenefeld airports are striking from around 4am local time (0300 GMT) on Monday until Tuesday around 5am local time (0400 GMT), German Union Verdi said. The union wants an increase in pay for ground staff to €12 ($12.80) an hour from about €11 as part of a one-year collective agreement. Management first offered about 10 cents more an hour over four years and then improved that offer to an 8% increase over three years. As well as Lufthansa, carriers including Air Berlin, easyJet and Ryanair serve the two airports.